Here's a fascinating article from the Washington Post, about an experiment with violin virtuoso Joshua Bell busking in the D.C. Metro:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html I don't have time to really read it like I want to, so I'm posting it here to come back to, later. Some of y'all might be interested as well...touches on an entire range of points fascinating to me, from contextualizing art to children's innate musical appreciation to buddhist mindfulness.